Home Forums The Japanese Language A は and が little problem

This topic contains 4 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  Juan Larroucau de Magalhaes-Calvet 10 years ago.

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  • #46635

    Hey guys, got a doubt here:

    Why in this example:

    わたしのくるまはすきですか?
    いいえ、あなたのくるまがきらいです

    we use が in the answer if we already know we are talking about your car? shoudlnt it be は there since its not relevant (your car) in the sentence anymore and the fact that i hate it is important now?

    #46643

    If I remember correctly, as it has been a while since I have looked at this. Since は is the topic particle and emphasises what comes before it, making it the topic of the conversation until it is used again, it does not need to be repeated until you want to change the subject. The が particle emphasises what comes after it and may serve a few purposes in relation to the topic, in this case emphasizing how someone feels about “your car”. So pretty much the sentence is meant to refer back to the subject but not change it. I hope this helps, let me know if you need a better explanation and I can revise this.

    #46644

    Thanks for your reply but the thing is the other way around and thats why i dont understand it: が emphasizes what comes before and は what comes after. So first we mark the topic, ok, and second we have the particle in the exact same position where it says exactly the same but we do NOT want to emphasize the car but the fact that I hate it. The only explaniation I find is that は creates the topic as we both agree but later, が emphasizes what comes before it, but not “your car”, is emphasizing the word いいえ which could make some sense to me. So は limits the topic (わたしのくるま) and が marks the subject (いいえ) because if we actually eliminate the rest of the answer and have only the いいえ part, the answer is already understandable, no need for the rest.

    Thats the answer i came up with but not sure if its correct tho it makes some sense.

    #46646

    Ah I think I get it now. Remember this re both subject markers. は also dictates the subject of the entire conversation but が only dictates the subject of that sentence, or phrase. You correct in that the subject can be dropped and it still be understood. You could even just say “いいえ、きらいです” Since we are still talking about the same car, there is no need for は again but to explicitly state the subject, though unnecessary, we need the が particle to be formally grammatically correct. In this case it might have more to do with the change from my “my to “your” and that is where the emphasis change would be. For example the answer could be “いいえ、かれのくるまがすきです。 “No, I like HIS car”. Hopefully that makes sense.

    #46647

    Yup, makes a lot of sense, I would love to see an other person agreeing with us to be 100% sure but thats the only explanation that makes sense that i can find now at least

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